By the Way
by broken-inside-x
Summary: Jasons getting engaged, Caitlyn and Mitchie go to the party.
1. Chapter 1

I've never been one for wearing dress's, looking for a girl like that then you'd want Mitchie. She loves them. Short, long, sleeves, sleeveless and in all colours. Weird thing is she looks good in all kinds. She's got lovely straight hair that hangs over her shoulders and down her back with gentle brown eyes that gaze at you from underneath her bangs. And lets just say her body is defiantly good enough to be in a dress. That's why when she and Shane ended it she had no trouble finding another boy. Yeah, you heard me right her and Shane broke up. No-one saw it coming they just randomly decided to end it one day. They say it was a mutual decision and still talk but I reckon different. Shanes never been the same as he was when he was with her. He's less chatty and more silent and broody whether that's a good or bad thing I don't know. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah the dress!

Well you see I'm on my way to Jason's engagement party with Mitchie of course. She's in this lovely short red dress that hugs every curve perfectly of course and I'm well…I'm in a strapless dark blue dress that hugs my non-existent figure ( I have very few female curves, near enough none at all ) when it reaches my waist it then flows out to mid-thigh. IM IN A DRESS! And the hair is just ridiculous, it's got a life of its own and instead of staying straight like I planned it's returned to its original curls that bounce just below my shoulders. But get this; I've got electric blue streaks to match my dress. It the best part of the outfit except the blue converse on my feet, I cant walk in heels so I've decided to go without even though now I look tinchy compared to Mitchie in her Stilettos. The hair that's dyed lies in curls at the front near my face and the blue stands out brilliantly against the light brown of my natural hair.

"_Hello? Earth to Caitlyn?" _Mitchie's waving a hand in front of my face as if I'm an idiot, well I'll show her. Just as her hand passes over my mouth I stick my tongue out and lick the palm of her hand, grinning as she pull it away with disgust plainly written across her face.

"_Ugh Caitlyn you licked me. I'm sure I've caught a disease off you"_ at that point we simultaneously dissolve into a fit of giggles in the back of the taxi. The taxi man gives us a weird look in his mirror but we don't care, we never do. When we start laughing there's no stopping us.

We're still giggling when we step out of the cab in front of the club the party's in. Nate and Shane are standing in the car park leaning against the metal gate opposite the door, both with some kind of drink in their hands. Alcoholic I'm guessing.

"_Why hello ladies"_ Nate says trying to be smooth and its completely failing for him. By the way he's looking at Mitchie in that dress though my guess that his feelings for her are much more than friendly. Especially with her in that figure hugging dress. Her legs are on full display and the neckline isn't exactly modest. We walk over, Mitchie in her stilettos and me in my converse while Nate continues to gape at Mitchie

"_You look amazing Mitchie"_ he finally manages to drawl out after his staring becomes obvious to those around. In other words Shane very subtly elbows him in the ribs causing him to rejoin us back in the real world.

"_Erm…thanks Nate you don't scrub up too bad either, you too Shane, you look…nice"_ she gives them her award winning smile and no-one notices the hesitation in her compliments. She's not lying when she says they scrub up well. Nate's standing there in blue jeans, a green shirt, yellow skinny tie and his trademark curly hair. It's just as curly as mine which makes us laugh a lot, we like the idea of matching hair. Shane, who is still leaning against the gate not saying a word, is in his black skinny jeans with a black shirt and silky blue tie. Skinny of course. It must be a brother matching thing with them and Jason, with their shirts and skinny ties. Shane lifts an eyebrow at me and it's obvious he's noticed me daydreaming about the ties. I stare back at him and he averts his gaze, reaching up to mess with his perfectly straightened hair. I mean how does he do it? I'm a girl and still can't straighten her hair. It's now that I realise how left out I feel. Everyone's been told they look nice except me. Even though I knew I didn't look as pretty as Mitchie and my features didn't stand out as much, it'd have been nice to at least have been included in the compliments. Lie or not.

"_Shall we go inside then ladies?"_ Nate asks offering Mitchie his arm oblivious to everything but the look on her face. She takes his arm and flashes him another smile. She looks at me and sticks her tongue out before they walk off towards the door leaving me and Shane, who hasn't said anything during this short exchange.

"_Come on then Pretty boy. Let's go join the party" _I joke trying to lighten the mood. He flashes his own award winning smile only its looks genuine, not like the usual cocky smile that belongs to Shane Grey.

He walks past me and I think he's gone in until I feel his warm breath against my bare neck as he slightly bends his head to whisper into my ear

"_By the way, you look stunning."_

I stand there for a minute, rooted to the spot as I take in his comment and the way his closeness made me feel. I can honestly say my heart skipped a few beats but that doesn't mean I like him right? I mean its Shane Grey, the cocky, arrogant idiot that's still pining after Mitchie.

I turn around to question him about his compliment only to see that he's already rejoined the party inside and I'm left standing outside in an empty car park shaking. And it's not from the cold.


	2. Chapter 2

After taking a few deep breaths to clear my head of all feelings to do with Shane I decide that its time I went inside. The club lights have been dimmed and disco lights flash on the dance floor, illuminating the bodies dancing together on the floor. I spot Mitchie sitting at a table with Jason and Nate. I push past people till I get to them and plonk myself down on a chair next to her. Flustered, I push my hair back out of my face and try to focus on the conversation being held. Mitchie has, miraculously, turned the topic towards wedding outfits even though the wedding isn't till Christmas time and it's August. A winter wedding! And once again I'm expected to wear a dress. In winter! Ridiculous right? Apparently the word groom gives Jason the right to force me into a dress. I notice with a grin that I was right about the skinny ties. Jason is sporting a pink short a white skinny tie. This amuses me for a good few minutes and then a drink appears in front of me. Brown eyes stare at me for a second longer than they need to and then he continues passing the others their drinks. Mitchie's drinking vodka mixed with lemonade, I'm drinking coke. At the age of 21 I still don't like the taste of alcohol. Pathetic I know.

Anyway I need to focus on the party.

I can see a few guy's eyeing Mitchie up, I can also see a green eyed monster lurking beneath Nate's nice guy personality. Once again I'm brought back to the fact that Mitchie is gorgeous is every guy's mind, even Shane's. That thought brings a wave of unexpected jealousy crashing over me and I fiddle with the ends of my dress to keep myself occupied.

"_Caitlyn Geller, if you ruin that dress I am going to do something I may regret"_ have I mentioned how hard it is to take Mitchie seriously, its like being told off by a 5 year old.

I moan about how I don't like wearing it and how uncomfortable I feel, I'm surprised by Jason and Nick's protests about how nice I look. It's the first time my new look has been mentioned. Or the second time. Shane just sits across from me swirling a glass of what looks like Vodka. His eyes drift across the room but never look in my direction. He's pretending not to listen but at the guy's compliments I can see his eyes flicker towards me. I like the feeling that I can do that to him but I have enough time to convince myself I just like being able to control him before Jason pulls me to my feet for a dance

"_Converse Caity? To my engagement party?" _he asks in mock annoyance as he eyes my blue converse, everyone's eyes drop to my feet and now I silently wish for stilettos. A smirk crosses his face but I push it out of my mind as I turn away and head to the dance floor with my bro, Jason.

We have some wacky dance moves and like two big kids we do them all bouncing up and down underneath the disco ball, surrounded by the loud music and flashing lights, the ones that aren't recommended for epileptic people. What are they called? Ohh I don't know and in all honesty I don't care. We're losing all sanity, I'm laughing so much it hurts to breath and for once I forget that I'm in a short strapless dress. Jason's the kind of guy that does this to me. He's like a weird best friend/older brother. He can resolve me into a fit of giggles just like Mitchie can but he's the most over protective person I know. And at this moment in time he's bouncing up and down doing some wacky dance move that looks as if it belonged in the 70's.

Nate has dragged Mitchie up on the dance floor too but Shane continues to sit at the table, drinking his weird alcoholic drink, looking all broody in that hot looking kind of way. He raises an eyebrow as he catches me, for the second time tonight, looking at him. I turn away and continue messing about with my child-like friend, flushed from the dancing, or that's what I tell myself anyway.

The track being played is switched for a slow tune and Jason offers me his hand, always the gentleman. The dude is a complete nutter, he has a gorgeous fiancé somewhere in the crowd and he's offering to slow dance with me! I don't hesitate in telling him this either and he finally see's my point. He bows low, like the gentleman I mentioned he was earlier, laughing and walks of in search of his fiancé. I noticed Nate holding Mitchie close as they sway to the song among the couples, the grin on his face is un-missable it's like he cant believe his luck. As I walk towards our now empty table I wonder where Shane has disappeared to and if he's dancing with someone now. I'm so distracted once again that I don't notice someone walking past me towards the dance floor until they grab me by the waist and spin me back around to walk in the direction I've just come from. Whoever they are puts their arms round me as we reach the middle of the floor and I recognise the intense eyes as I finally stare up into the mysterious person's face.

"_Caitlyn"_

He says as recognition, but I'm filled with questions.

We sway to the music, just as I'd seen other couples do. It's weird dancing with Shane. Not a bad weird I think, just weird. His hands are encircling my (non-existent) waist and locked together because my waist is small enough to allow me to be to be wrapped in the arms of Shane Grey. My arms have slowly made their way up to rest on his forearms, because in converse I'm too short to reach his neck. Ok now I'm defiantly worried, the tingly feeling that's spreading where my pale skin touches him is electrifying and shouldn't be happening. It's not right! He's Shane Grey; he's all movie star smile and perfectly tanned skin. I'm Caitlyn Geller; I'm an ordinary girl next door with plans to be a big time musician.

My situation is brought back into focus when, for the second time in less than 2 hours, Shane leans close to my ear and whispers

"_By the way, you're not half bad at dancing"_

How long have we been dancing? I listen in to the song to realise its winding down and people are slowly drifting of the dance floor. I look straight into his eye's trying to see his motive for messing with my head. I'm expecting to see his trademark smirk but instead I'm hit full force by the genuine look in his eyes, which by the way are still staring straight down at me. The song ends and he steps back, the absence of warmth and my sudden feeling of sadness is enough to warn me I'm falling in to deep. He bows low just as Jason had done earlier. Only thing is Jason was messing about the look on Shane's face is sombre. He flashes a grin before turning and walking away, leaving me stranded on the dance floor.


	3. Chapter 3

It's been an hour since the dance with Shane and he's disappeared from the party from the looks of things. I've also tried getting him to disappear from my thoughts which is why I'm standing at the bar with Nate, who's finally left Mitchie's side, drinking my first drink in weeks. Mixed with a bit of coke of course.

We talk about how things for the band are going. He mentions how they want Mitchie to record another song. That doesn't go down with the green eyed monster living inside of me. But he then surprises me by saying that Shane disagrees and thinks I should do it. That doesn't go down well with the sensible part of me who says that Mitchie is a much better singer and would be better for the band. I'm quick to change the subject onto him and Mitchie but when I ask him about why he isn't with Mitchie all I get is a blunt reply of

"_She's dancing with some guy"_

This is why he's here drowning his sorrows in vodka.

Why do all three band members drink Vodka? I saw Jason drinking a glass earlier.

Speaking of Jason I can see him making his way over, obviously concerned about the amount of drink Nate's consuming.

"_How much has he drunk Caity?"_

"_Erm… I think he's only on glass number two" _

This is a complete lie because there are four empty glasses on the bar counter beside us.

"_Mitchie's looking for him, you reckon he's sober enough to send over?"_

We looked in Nate's direction only to see that lover boy had vanished into the crowd, showing he was sober enough to go find Mitchie.

"_I think he'll be fine Jase, maybe a hangover in the morning but he'll be too loved up with Mitch to notice" _ I laugh at the mental image of Nate with a hangover, you see it's a very rare sight indeed. He's usually avoids drinking as much as I do.

Jason laughs along too and soon we're laughing uncontrollably at the bar, like little kids.

I gesture towards the exit and we make our way towards it, still laughing about nothing.

The cold air hits me by surprise, it was fairly warm when we arrived but it must be late now, I grab Jason's wrist and look at the watch he's wearing.

11:45 pm

We've calmed down now after a few cold breaths of fresh air, or at least as fresh as you can get standing outside a club in the middle of a big city.

We're leaning against the railing Nate and Shane were leaning against earlier. Why is it everything relates back to him in someway?

"_So what's up with you and Shane, Caity?"_

I can feel the mood shift and for once Jason looks something other than his usual spaced out self. I look at the large group of drunken men standing at the entrance to another room and then up at the sky. Anything to keep me from looking at Jason.

"_Nothing. Why?"_

I'm playing dumb now because I know exactly why he thinks something's up. He's obviously seen us dancing together. And I bet it looked a little to intimate for two friends to be dancing like that. I'm not surprised with Jason's question or the fact that he noticed to begin with. I've realised since Camp that Jason does have his clever moments and realises a lot of things others miss. I start fiddling with the hem of my dress again and Mitchie's voice fills my head with her threats so I stop.

"_I'm not blind Caity. I saw you dancing"_

Jason's laugh lightens the mood and I congratulate myself on knowing that it was the dancing that gave us away. I can't celebrate for long though as I remember I have a question to answer.

"_You pair were way too close to each other, kinda like how Nate and Mitchie were dancing but we all know Nate fancies Mitchie"_

I watch as the realisation dawns on his face and he manages to splutter

"_You…You and Shane…You don't do you?"_

I'm about to answer when one of the drunken men approaches us, the foul smell coming from him is nearly unbearable and he looks completely out of his mind.

"_Was sup Darling"_

He manages to slur his words in a drunken fashion and he moves closer to me his eyes roaming over my body in its short dress. Jason moves closer to my side and reaches out to grab my hand

"_Back of man, so not cool"_

Typical Jason, too kind to threaten anyone so he just tells them to back off, unfortunately that doesn't look like that's going to work in this situation. The man, and his foul smell, move closer and as trivial as it is I'm more worried about my dress smelling of him than what he's going to do to me.

"_Back off now and you walk away with both legs intact. Touch her and you don't walk away at all."_

That isn't Jason's voice and once again Shane Grey comes waltzing back into my view, his cocky grin plastered all over his face as we watch the drunken lout stumble backwards and off towards his mates, probably to tell them he scored with the pretty little girl in the pretty little dress.

"_I'm erm… just going to go…inside…and tell security about him. Ill er see you two later"_

Jason looks between us and winks at me before he leaves. That wink was not well disguised and Shane grins in my direction, aware of the fact that Jason and I had obviously been talking about him. Real smooth Jase.

"_Didn't know you went for the older guys Caity?"_

I see red at his arrogance and vow to myself that I won't let him mess with my head anymore tonight

"_Just stop it Shane. No more messing with my head."_

I'm pushing past him when his arm reaches out and grabs hold of me just like he did before our dance.

"_Whoa, who said I was messing with your head?"_

"_The compliment when I arrived with Mitchie? The slow dance? Protecting me from the perverted drunken man over there? That's all classed as flirting. You do that when you like someone not with friends so stop"_

The look on his face is not what I expected. His frown softens out into another one of his genuine smiles which were rare until this evening. His reaction is not what I thought it would be. I expected him to tell me how he wasn't flirting but just being overly-friendly because he's that kind of guy. Instead he's looking at me as if I'm the most foolish girl in the world.

"_Use your brains Caitlyn! What do you think I'm trying to tell you?"_

I'm speechless and all I can do is stand there looking at him as if he has two heads which I'm sure he notices.

Once again he walks back into the party leaving me standing outside in the cold. I believe déjà vu is the correct term to be used about now.

There's no fairytale confession of love or romantic way of declaring it but it was typical Shane style and that's what makes me smile as I walk back into the party and just like that I know that he likes me and I like him. It's perfect.

I walk over to our table which everyone has rejoined and sit next to Shane. Jason gives me a knowing look and I have to look away, scared of giving it away before I have a chance to tell Mitchie personally. Mitchie however is distracted by a conversation being held with Nate about something that she probably has no interest in, but then again she has an interest in the speaker.

Shane's breath is warm as he leans towards me for the third time and whispers in my ear.

"_By the way, I'm taking you out tomorrow night"_

And just like that I have a date with Shane Grey.

I throw myself into the conversation for the first time tonight knowing that I don't have to force him out of my thoughts because he has a right to be in them now.


End file.
